Monday, March 31, 2008

Ethos, Pathos, and Word Choice Grabbed My Attention

“The Obligation to Endure,” by Rachel Carson is about how the chemicals that we (human beings) use on crops are harmful to the air, water, animals, and even ourselves. Carson starts off by establishing her trustworthiness as an author by stating facts and giving her insightful opinions on the dangers of different chemicals that are used. She makes her readers question why certain processes are used with her word choice and emotional appeal.
Facts, facts, and more facts are given at the beginning of “The Obligation to Endure.” Statements such as, “Strontium 90, released through nuclear explosions into the air, comes to earth in rain, or drifts down as fall out, lodges in soil, enters into the grass or corn or wheat grown there, and in time takes up in abode in the bones of a human being, there to remain until his death,” and “500 new chemicals (per year) to which the bodies of men and animals are required somehow to adapt each year,” are written by Carson to engage the reader and establish herself as a trustworthy author (ethos). It is these numbers, statistics, and explanations of the toll that the use of chemicals has taken on our earthly environment that give the reader reason to take Carson seriously.
Another important technique that Carson practices is choosing words that sound harmful; kills, devils, deadly, disease, deprivation, and invasion are just a few of the examples. A person reading in this essay would use their logic to associate these words with scary situations and once the reader has made this connection, they would see the scariness and importance of Carson’s point.
Perhaps the best appeal that is used in the essay is the emotional appeal. Let’s be honest, humans tend to care about themselves and not much more, so Carson not only explains the dangerous effects of the chemicals on the environment, but also the dangerous effects the chemicals will have on our bodies. She says, “How could intelligent beings seek to control a few unwanted species by a method that contaminates the entire environment and brought the threat of disease and death even to their own kind?” When a person sees that their own health could be in danger, their interest will increase and they will care more about the things Carson is saying.
Carson does many more things that engage her readers, but the ethos, pathos, and her word choices grabbed my attention the most. I think she probably planned to use ethos, pathos and her particular word choice to get the attention of her readers, and there are probably even more techniques she used that we don’t realize.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Better Hair; Better Life

An advertisement for Suave hair care in the March issue of Glamour magazine features a mom with frizzy, messy hair that is tied back into a bun. She has her baby boy in her arms and he is hanging upside down with a not-so-pleasant look on his face. Overall, the mother and son look like they are having fun together, but they are a little frazzled. The next page of the magazine shows the “perfect” mom and son after using Suave: the mom is standing straight up (like she feels satisfied), the baby is sitting upright in her arms with a smile on his face, and the mom’s hair is BEAUTIFUL!

If you have never heard of Glamour magazine, it is a magazine that targets women from the ages of 18 to 35. Glamour is full of fashion ideas, the latest info on the stars, things to do for fun, how to catch that perfect guy or satisfy the one you already have, etc. Therefore, the marketers at Suave new the audience reading this magazine would be perfect for their ad.

A mom would see the first page of the ad and know what it feels like to be on the go with children and not have time to take care of herself. When she sees the next page of the ad, it would make her want to have nice hair like the mom in the picture, but not only that, the mom in the picture looks like her life is perfect and organized, so the lady seeing the ad would want the same. She might think if she used Suave, her life would be more in order and she would feel satisfied.

Also, the ad uses ethical appeal because it uses a cute mom and son pair. Potential buyers of Suave would look at these two in the ad and see how trustworthy they appear to be. Everyone has an idea in their head that moms are smart and caring, so they would only use the best products available. So hey… if you use Suave your hair and life can be just as great as the mom’s and her son’s in the ad!



Citation:
Suave. Advertisement. Glamour March 2008: Pgs. 274-75.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Make Time For Breakfast

“Skipping Cereal and Eggs, and Packing on Pounds” is the title of an article in The New York Times that says, “A new study reports that the more often adolescents eat breakfast, the less likely they are to be overweight” (1). We have all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and this study presents facts that support that idea. The study was done on a random group of children (all from different races and economic backgrounds) with an average age of 15. 1,215 girls and 1,007 boys were observed for a period of five years and weight results were typically better for those who ate breakfast versus those who didn’t.

“Why eating breakfast should lead to fewer unwanted pounds is unclear, but the study found that breakfast eaters consumed greater amounts of carbohydrates and fiber, got fewer calories from fat and exercised more” (1). Results showed that people who ate breakfast had more energy throughout the day and didn’t feel as hungry as those who skipped eating. At the beginning of the study, breakfast eaters were thinner and more fit, those who didn’t were usually heavier, and in between were those who only sometimes had breakfast. As the article said, the study didn’t say why people who ate in the morning were thinner but the fact that breakfast eaters were thinner held true across different economic statuses, races, and genders. So to stay healthy, whatever the reason, breakfast shouldn’t be missed.



Citation:

Bakalar, Nicholas. "Skipping Cereal and Eggs, and Packing on Pounds."
The New York Times. (25 March 2008). 25 March 2008.
[http://www.nytimes.com]. Path: Most Popular; Most E-mailed.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Save Money- Bargain!

It seems that everyone has access to the internet these days. Along with the internet comes a vast amount of information on products, which is leading to an increase in the bargaining power of consumers. Also, a slow down in the economy forces consumers to want lower prices on the products they buy. An article in The New York Times, “Even at Megastores, Hagglers Find That No Price Is Set in Stone,” looks at how bargaining has become more popular in recent years.

Bargaining used to be very popular, but it died out as major stores started setting their prices. While some megastores still have their prices set in stone, others are giving their employees the go-ahead to bargain with customers on items such as electronics, clothes, and furniture. Most consumers don’t know they can go into stores such as Home Depot or Best Buy and negotiate prices for goods, but it is happening more and more because the economy is giving consumers a reason to put in the effort to get lower prices. A recent bargainer, David Achee says, “You can negotiate, but you have to do your research.” (1). Achee found a pair of Polo jeans he liked online for $65. He then found them in the store for $75 where he negotiated the price down to $50. Nancy Koehn, a retail historian at Harvard says, “Call it the ebay phenomenon.” (1)

The end of the article points out that bargaining has been somewhat of a cycle; it used to be common to bargain but then it became “cool” to not have to bargain, sort of a rich versus poor status. Priya Raghubir, a professor at the University of California, says, “In the past, when you tried to get yourself a deal and it was an embarrassing thing — the kind of thing you did if you couldn’t afford to pay,” she said. “Now it’s about being a smart shopper.” (1). Maybe if everyone starts “shopping smart,” retailers will have to lower their prices… so do your research.



Citation:
Richtel, Matt. "Even At Megastores, Hagglers Find That No Price Is Set in Stone."
The New York Times. (23 March 2008) 24 March 2008.
[http://www.nytimes.com]. Path: Most Popular; Most Blogged.

Message In A Bottle... More Than A Hollywood Storyline

“21-Year-Old Message In a Bottle Drifts 1,735 Miles” is the title of the article that caught my attention as I was searching through FOXNews.com. Merle Brandell, a man from a small village in Alaska, was engaging in his hobby of beachcombing along the sea when he came across a plastic bottle that happened to have a message inside. The message read, “This letter is part of our science project to study oceans and learn about people in distant lands, please send the date and location of the bottle with your address. I will send you my picture and tell you when and where the bottle was placed in the ocean. Your friend, Emily Hwaung." (1). Brandell proceeded to call the school district but couldn’t reach anyone, so he wrote a letter. Craig Degginger, the district spokesman, received the letter and did some detective work to find Emily Hwaung.

“After some searching, Degginger discovered Emily Hwaung is now a 30- year-old accountant named Emily Shih who lives in Seattle. She was in the 4th grade during the 1986-87 school year (when the bottle was placed in the ocean for a class project) at a school building that closed more than a year ago.” (1). Shih has been interviewed and she says the experience has been fun to talk about with friends and family and that it is definitely a once in a lifetime happening. She also remarks on how things have changed in 21 years- nowadays, teachers wouldn’t let students pollute the ocean with plastic or offer to send a picture of themselves to a complete stranger. Brandell and Shih each have theories on how the bottle ended up 1,735 miles away from its original home and how it was still readable, but both have enjoyed being involved in this and will tell this story for years to come.



Citation:
"21-Year-Old Message in a Bottle Drifts 1,735 Miles." FOXNews. (23 March 2008) 24 March 2008. [http://www.foxnews.com]. Path: Home; U.S.